State Briefs 5/28/09

PEORIA — Eileen Frye, the woman whose name was synonymous with the Heart of Illinois Fair and served as its general manager for nearly four decades, has died. She was 86.

Frye died at 2:14 a.m. Thursday at Proctor Hospital.

Frye and her husband managed the Illinois Angus Association in the 1950s and 1960s before she joined the team running Exposition Gardens, where she remained for nearly 40 years. She served as general manager of the annual HOI Fair for 30 years.

Frye left the job in spring 2007 after the fair’s board of directors voted to seek a new general manager after the summer’s fair finished. Frye, however, chose to leave earlier.

Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Wright & Salmon Mortuary in Peoria. A private burial of Frye’s ashes will follow in St. Mary’s Cemetery in West Peoria at a later date.

Peoria Journal Star

Komen founder named as WHO Ambassador

PEORIA — Nancy Goodman Brinker, founder of the breast cancer foundation Susan G. Komen for the Cure, has been named the World Health Organization's Ambassador for Cancer Control.

Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, announced the appointment Tuesday in Switzerland.

"I look forward to Ambassador Brinker's help in raising global awareness of the need for comprehensive cancer control policies," Chan said in a release. "The disease burden has been shifted from wealthier to less affluent countries, and her advocacy will help in building awareness in low- and middle-income countries."

Brinker served as the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary from 2001 to 2003 and as U.S. Chief of Protocol from 2007 through this year, in addition to her service on various other boards and presidential appointments linked to the search for a cure for cancer.

Peoria Journal Star

Robbers attempt to rob golfer

PEORIA — One shot was fired on the 16th hole at Newman Golf Course on Wednesday afternoon, but it was no hole-in-one.

Two 19-year-olds attempted to rob a man on the fairway of the par-5 hole about 1:15 p.m., police said.

The victim told police the two men tried to rob him at gunpoint, but he fled in his golf cart. As he fled, one of the men fired a shot.

The man was not hit by the bullet and called police. He went to the clubhouse to provide descriptions of the suspects to city of Peoria and Peoria Park District officers who were arriving at the course.

Tyler G. Williams and Nicholas E. Williams, both 19, were arrested and booked on charges of aggravated and reckless discharge of a firearm, attempted armed robbery, unlawful use of weapons and no FOID card.

Peoria Journal Star

Chrysler supplier to close

BELVIDERE — Android Industries, the Michigan-based supplier of engine/transmission modules and instrument panels for Chrysler LLC’s Belvidere assembly plant, will close its Belvidere operation Saturday, leaving workers with a four-hour window on June 2 to gather their things.

That information came from a recording on the company’s phone-messaging system. It referred all other questions to an Android official who did not return a phone call Thursday morning.

The company had 241 workers as of February. It’s unclear how many remain on the payroll since production at all Chrysler plants was halted on May 1, forcing Chrysler’s direct suppliers to idle production as well.

The closing is not a surprise. The company notified its employees in late March that it planned to close the Belvidere plant on May 22 unless Chrysler could make assurances on production.

Rockford Register Star

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